


The Ol' Switcheroo

by PaintMeTheSky



Category: Archie Comics, Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Beggie, Betty Cooper - Freeform, F/M, archie comics - Freeform, reggie mantle - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-08 16:26:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17389739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaintMeTheSky/pseuds/PaintMeTheSky
Summary: Reggie and Betty pull the ol' switcheroo over a bet! But how well can that go?





	1. Switch 1

Reggie stared blankly at the blonde in front of him. An apology formed and died in his lips.

Tears formed at the corners of her eyes, but she smiled at him.

“I- I honestly should have seen it coming since it’s _you_ , Reg!” she tried to laugh it off.

It stung.

He looked down at the joy-buzzer in his hand. It was meant for Carrot-top. He had rigged it to make the shock a bit more powerful than usual. Betty had just come by to call him for some reason and tugged at his hand when it went off on her.

It came as a shock –quite literally- and she yelped in a mix of surprise and pain. She actually got a cut from a cooking accident the other day. The shock served to increase the pain, but Reggie wasn’t aware of that. She wouldn’t hold it against him.

The cut re-opened and blood dripped off her palm. Reggie’s face turned white as a sheet.

“B-Bets” he started.

“Oh, this?” she tried her best to seem okay “This isn’t your fault, Reg! I just cut myself earlier haha,” and then her face darkened “But who were you actually going to use that on? You never change, do you, Reg?” she shook her head disapprovingly. And then remembering why she called him “Oh yeah! Ms. Grundy was looking for you!”

Having delivered her message, she went off to the nurse’s office. How do you manage to cut yourself on the palm anyway? She internally chided herself. No, the one she should have been mad at was Reggie. Why was he always such a child? She just wouldn’t understand his thought-process, she sighed.

“Betty! I heard you hurt yourself?” a concerned voice broke her out of her thoughts as a brown-haired boy peeked his head through the door of the nurse’s office.

“H-hey Adam,” she smiled weakly, waving with her bloody hand.

“By Gosh Bets!” he exclaimed as he rushed over to her. “Do we have a doctor in the house?! It’s an emergency!” he exclaimed in mock urgency at no one in particular.

She giggled. “I’ve been waiting here for ten thousand years!”

“Then I shall wait with you, my lady!” he sat down beside her.

 

\--------

 

“You were looking for me, Ms. Grundy?” Reggie’s mind was elsewhere. It lingered on the face smiling through tears. She looked so adorable that time. It was bleeding... of course it would hurt! But she was putting on a brave front and he felt even worse.

“Ah, yes. It’s about your last essay-” Ms. Grundy took one look at Reggie. “Are you with me, boy?”

“Yes ma’am!” he gulped.

But he wasn’t really.

 

A gut feeling told him she would be at the nurse’s office. He casually took the route close to it, even though it would make him late for his next class. As he expected, he heard her melodic voice from the room. She seemed almost happy. He peeked in to see her chatting away with Adam Chisholm, who was bandaging her hand. He could almost see the stars in his eyes as he gawked at her. _Disgusting_ , he sniffed. He waved away the sudden burst of annoyance that rose up in his stomach. It was probably because he wanted to get his apology over and done with. But he felt that he or his apology would not be welcome in the scene at that moment.

"I’ll just leave those two lovebirds to themselves for now," he thought as he suddenly felt that he were the most generous man on the planet. He also felt supremely annoyed.

 

After a long day of classes ended, Betty couldn’t wait to go home and take a refreshing nap! She actually stayed back a while to finish up some work and the place was nearly empty. She stopped short at the entrance to the school building.

Leaning against the door, with his hood up and earphones on- a dark haired boy softly hummed to whatever song he was listening to. He pulled his earphones off when he noticed her standing there

“H-hey, Bets…” he said meekly.

“My, my, Mr. Mantle,” she raised an eyebrow. “And what are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you.” he smiled shyly.

Upon seeing both eyebrows rise at that point, he decided to get on with it. “Bets… about today… I’m really sorry. You know I didn’t mean to-”

“I know Reg,” she smiled, “don’t worry about it.”

Good old Bets. She never held anything against anyone. She really shouldn’t always be this nice. He almost wished she’d be madder. He felt guiltier at her niceness.

“Let me make it up to you, at least!” he pleaded.

Reggie really turned into a completely different person when he felt bad, she mused.

“And how are you going to do that?” she asked.

“Anything you want. Pop Tates. On me.” He responded simply.

“Sure!” she laughed pleasantly.

He smiled.

They were walking back to his car when she suddenly asked. “When are you going to grow up though, Reg?”

He shot her a tired look.

“I’m supposing you get that a lot?” she smiled sympathetically.

“Twice from you, today,” he frowned.

She giggled. “But seriously though, Reg. I don’t think I’ll ever understand you! Why do you keep messing around with people like that?”

“That’s just who I am, Bets.” As though that sufficed as an answer.

“That’s not _all_ of who you are…” her words drifted.

“Oh?” he raised an eyebrow, amusedly. “So, there’s more to me than meets the eye?”

“You just have your moments, that’s all!” she said, shutting him down.

He laughed heartily. “Well Bets, I don’t understand you either, y’know?”

“Me?” she gave him a quizzical look, “I’m the simplest most easy to understand non-complicated person _I’ve_ ever met!” she frowned in a confused way.

“No… I just meant...” he tried to find the right words “You’re… how to say it? Waaay too nice!”

Betty raised an eyebrow at him.

“No! Seriously!” he exclaimed. “I mean, you’re too nice to people! Even those who don’t deserve it! Like today!” He was looking straight into her eyes, “You shouldn’t have just forgiven me like that! You should’ve let me have it! Like, sucker punched me across the face and told me you’re getting super tired of my shit!”

Betty burst out laughing. “I’ll remember that next time!”

Reggie let out an exasperated sigh, “See? This is what I mean!”

“It pays off,” Betty smiled thoughtfully.

Reggie shot her a questioning glance.

“Being good to people pays off. It also makes you feel good about yourself!” She smiled.

“What’s so great about being taken advantage of?” Reggie pouted.

“What’s so great about pranking people and getting ostracized?” Betty countered.

“It’s the thrill, babe!” the edge of his lips turned up a notch.

Betty rolled her eyes. “Let’s just agree to disagree.”

Reggie held the passenger side door of his car open for her and then went around to the driver’s side and got in.

“See? You _can_ be a gentleman at times!” she said.

“Only to the ladies,” he grinned.

“You should try being good,” she said.

“You should try being _bad._ ”

 

\--------

 

Reggie put the thought in his own head and he couldn’t seem to get rid of it. He tried to imagine a bad Betty. He glanced over at the girl sitting opposite to him, sipping a milkshake. “Yes?” she asked, upon noticing him staring at her.

“Bets, have you ever tried being like- mean to anyone? Or pranking someone? Or not being so _good_ in general?”

“Not that again, Reg! What? Are you trying to recruit me into your badboy club?”

“Maybe I am,” he gazed at her. “How about it? Try something new?”

“What?” Betty seemed a bit clueless as to what he was hinting at.

“I can’t imagine a _bad Betty_ for the life of me.” He scratched the back of his head and then looked at her. “How about showing me one?”

“Interesting...” Betty took another sip of her drink. “What’s in it for me?” she smiled coolly at him.

“The thrill, babe. And… experiencing something new, I guess?”

“I’ll try it.” she picked up a fry.

“You will?” He hadn’t expected her to agree that easily.

“Sure,” she said. “But only if you try being nice,” she pointed at him with her fry and gave him a smug look.

“So we pull the ol’ switcheroo, eh?” he snickered. “That sounds interesting!” It in itself sounded like a great prank.

Betty was starting to feel nervous about the entire thing. She wondered what exactly she was getting herself roped into.

“S-so… what exactly do you want me to do?” she asked, a bit unsure.

“It’s simple, Bets,” he took a few fries and stuffed them in his mouth. “You be me and I be you,” he said as he chewed.

“Right now you’re being Juggie,” she pointed out his lack of manners and he laughed.

“So just do what you think I would do and act how you think I would act,” he explained the plan. “Shouldn’t be hard considering how long we’ve known each other.”

She thought back. They _had_ known each other for a very long time. Since they were just kids.

Still, she felt unsure. “I don’t know Reg…”

“No pressure Bets” he smiled.

She smiled back.

“It can’t be helped if you’re a big chicken.”

She stopped smiling.

“I mean… **_I_** am the great Mantle and **_I_** would never back down from a challenge! But of course I can't expect the same of others! No one is as _daring_ as me! Especially not _widdle miss sweetiepie~_ ” he flashed all his devilish teeth and his eyes were slits.

He wasn’t just sending her a letter of challenge. _No, he was marching straight up her courtyard and painting it on her walls with blood._ **It was on**.

“Oh no, I was just worried about whether you could stomach being a decent human being for a day,” she said uninterestedly, doing her best to hide the heated anger in her stomach.

Reggie felt as though he had flipped some switch in her. _Interesting indeed_.

“I think I can manage,” he assured her. “Do you think you can stop being Mother Teresa 2.0 for a day?”

“You’ll just have to see, won’t you?”

 

\--------

 

The next day Reggie picked Betty up for school. “Remember the plan?” he asked as she slid into the passenger seat.

They’d planned the whole thing out via text the night before.

“Yep,” she said. “Basically- play our parts, don’t tell anyone about it, and loser does whatever the winner wants for a week.”

“That’s my girl,”

“I’m not your girl,” she snapped, punching him lightly on the arm.

“Woah there, Tiger,” he patted her head. “Save all that energy for the act.”

As they walked from the parking lot to the school building, Betty spotted Archie. Just as she was about to call out to him, she remembered the situation and internally hoped she wouldn’t run into him the rest of the day. She wanted to kick Reggie as he called out to him instead.

 

“Yo Carrot-” he started but stopped. Clearing his throat, “Good Morning, Archie~ Pleasant weather we’re having right?” he chirped.

Was he batting his eyelashes? “I don’t do that!” she whispered loudly to him.

Archie seemed to ignore it. “Hey Reg! Hey Bets! Unusual to see you two coming together.”

“Not as unusual as your face!” Betty shot.

Reggie burst out laughing.

Betty kept a poker face as she tutted and walked on ahead. She didn’t want to stick around and mess with Archie any more than necessary. She hoped for the life of her he didn’t think too much on it. She suddenly felt an arm around her shoulder which pulled her close.

“Didn’t think I’d let you go that easily, did ya?” Reggie caught up and narrowed his eyes at her.

“What are you even saying?” she struggled in his grasp.

“We gotta stick close today so I can observe you,” he pulled her even closer. “Up close and personal,” he smiled flirtatiously.

She felt her heartbeat quicken and she pushed him away. “Don’t you trust me at all?” she asked, looking away so he didn't notice her blushing.

“Of course I know that Betty Cooper, of all people, would keep her word. I just wanna see it happen, that’s all!” He put his hands in his pockets and walked beside her. “But damn, that was something!” He started laughing. “Are you in elementary school or what?”

“Well, I’m sorry I couldn’t meet your expectations,” she sniffed coldly.

“Aww” he looked at her as though she were a kid. “Ish dat aw you gawt?” he batted his eyelashes at her.

Her lips twitched in irritation. “I’m just getting started. That was a warm-up.” She strutted away, bumping into people intentionally, as she walked.

He chuckled as he watched her.

 

She spent the day sniffing at people or glaring at them. That wasn’t Reggie, though. She knew he wouldn’t be satisfied with just that much. She needed to do something more  _Reggie-like_ or else she'd lose the bet for sure!

"What does Reggie do?" She rubbed her temples in intense concentration. "Let's see... terrorize people, flirt around, pull pranks, flirt more...  _arghh_ _exactly am **I** supposed to be doing?_"

The bell rang and she snapped out of her thoughts. It was time for lunch.

At least during classes she didn't have to interact with anyone. What would she do now? As she walked out of class and towards the cafeteria, she saw a girl bump into someone and drop a ton of flyers she was carrying. Flyers began floating here and there. Betty was just about to go and offer the distraught girl some help when she realized that she wasn't supposed to do anything nice currently. She looked at the helpless girl teeter about here and there trying to gather them all together but failed and dropped more as she tried to pick them up.

Just as she was about to walk away, she saw a familiar dark haired boy swoop in and pick up a bunch of them at once. He flashed an uncharacteristic angelic smile at the girl and helped her organize her papers. The girl looked up in awe and gratefulness as she thanked him many times.

He simply waved his hand and said it was nothing, as he walked off. Then, he made his way over to Betty.

"How was that, huh? Easy peasy!"

Betty rolled her eyes.

"And what have  _you_ done today?" he looked cockily at her.

"Day's just getting started," she said, noticed someone down the hall and gulped at the thought of what she was about to do, "and now if you'll excuse me." She pushed Reggie to the side lightly, and strode casually over to Adam Chisholm.

He smiled upon noticing her and she stamped a hand on a wall behind Adam and stood pinning him against his locker. She looked flirtatiously up at him. "Hey," she said in a voice, a few octaves lower for seduction purposes.

Adam was surprised without a doubt, but he went with it without missing a beat. "Hi, yourself." He tucked some strands of her blonde hair behind her ears.

Betty blushed, but tried to keep her cool. "How about joining me for lunch, you big hunk?" She screamed internally at her lack of seduction vocabulary.

Adam brought his face down a bit closer to hers and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Sure babe,"

Betty straightened up and pulled out of his embrace. "Cool," she said as she looked away.

Adam laughed. "I'll catch up with you in the cafeteria? I have to run a small errand for Professor Flutesnoot."

"See ya there, hot stuff!" She said as she finger gunned away from the scene. Betty wondered if she could ever convince Adam this encounter was just a dream he had and that it never actually happened. She was vaguely aware of the familiar faces watching the scene with some form of awe, Reggie Mantle's being one of them. She wondered if that bet was worth this embarrassment.

 

Reggie watched the scene, initially with some amusement. But there was a side of him that felt slightly irritated. "Curse my playboy habits!" He cursed internally. It didn't occur to him that the situation could take this kind of turn.

He paced the hall and caught up to her. Putting a hand around her shoulder again, he forced out some laughter. "That was a good one, Cooper." he chuckled.

She seemed distracted, and didn't even bother to move his hand away.

"Earth to Betty!" he said into her ear and she finally swatted him away.

"What?!"

"You did good," he said, thoughtfully, "I'd say that was about 15 points so... with that, and all the-" he laughed "-bumping into people, and oh! How could I forget that little jab at  _Archiekins_! I also noticed how painful it was for you to hold off on helping that kid with the fliers..." He seemed to be calculating in his head. "With all that, I'd say you have about 55 points."

"You... are keeping score?"

"Well, sure!" He said, as though that were super obvious.

"You sure are taking this seriously." She nodded her head slightly.

"Yep! And by the way, I have around 48 points."

"How did _you_ get that much?" She reflected briefly on the peculiarity of the number. Just how was he assigning the scores?

"Well," he started and thought for a while. "I helped Svenson mop up some drinks some kids spilled, and also cleaned up the litter outside the cafeteria with him. I carried Haggly's books for her to her office and I complimented some guy from our team for his mediocre play during morning practice. Then, I helped that kid pick up her flyers, amongst some other small things here and there so..." he counted on his fingers, "around 48, I guess."

"Wow," Betty wondered how he did all those things and only got 48, while she did so little and got 55. Well, she wasn't going to argue with his scoring system when it was in  _her_ favour. But still she said "You've done more than I normally do... or would do."

"Hmm," Reggie contemplated. "I thought so too... Think I can bump it up to 50, right?"

Betty wasn't listening properly. She was thinking about how childlike Reggie seemed throughout the whole thing. He was like a kid, playing a game and taking it very seriously. She stifled a bit of gleeful laughter. It was nice to see him like that. It was kind of cute.

She came back to her senses to realize that he had asked her a question but she had no idea what it was. "Uh... sure?" She took a shot in the dark.

"Cool, I'll meet you at the entrance after school then."

"Mm," she nodded her head absentmindedly.

"What's the matter?" His old devilish smile was back. "Lost your spirit, already? Wanna raise the white flag? We both know I'll win either way!"

She punched him on the arm. "Like hell you will!"

"We'll see," he chuckled. "Shouldn't you get going for your little date?"

"Oh yeah! See ya later, Reg." She walked ahead of him to the cafeteria.

 

Reggie didn't follow. He wasn't particularly hungry. He thought he'd go find an empty classroom and finish up some homework so he could play video games all day after going back home.

He stopped short when he heard a girl crying around a corner, and he peered from behind a wall.

It was a gorgeous blonde girl, and she was crying and yelling at someone. He peered further to see whom she was throwing all her fury at.

It was Adam!

Reggie couldn't hear exactly what the girl was saying but he heard words along the lines of "broke my heart" and "jerk".

Didn't he say he was running some errands? Did Flutesnoot ask him to go around breaking hearts?

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Interesting," he muttered as he walked away.

 


	2. Switch 2

After lunch Betty headed over to the washroom to freshen up. Even after such an embarrassing stunt in front of so many people, Adam hadn’t shown up for their “date”. She exited the washroom with a sigh and went over to the drinking fountain to get a sip of water. She saw Reggie standing a few paces away talking to some guy from his football team. Then she saw the girl Reggie helped out earlier that day. She was standing next to the water fountain gawking at Reggie with hearts in her eyes, not paying much attention to her surroundings.

An idea popped into her head as she sipped some water from the fountain. Betty bit her lower lip, apologized internally for what she was about to do, and covered part of the water fountain's tap with a finger and turned it on. The water sprinkled out in an arc and the trajectory was just as she calculated. It sprinkled the girl (though not too much- it completely wet one of the sleeves of her shirt), shaking her out of her trance and eliciting an unattractive shriek from her.

Betty snickered and then offered her a half hearted apology.

Reggie ran over to them within seconds. “Are you alright?” he asked the girl with some form of concern, though Betty could see the glint of amusement in his eyes. He dabbed at the girl’s sleeve with a handkerchief he produced from his pocket. 

The girl, though initially a bit angry, was now completely silent and stared at the floor. A hint of a smile on her lips. It seemed like she was rather glad to have been drenched.

Betty clicked her tongue. She wanted to tell Reggie that he had done enough, but he was still cajoling the girl. ‘ _Alright already, you got your points! Your score went up! You can stop now!’_ She wanted to say, when he turned to her with a frown.

“Betty!” he chided. “You should be more careful! Look what you did!” 

Betty was aghast. She opened her mouth to say something but he continued. “You should be ashamed of yourself!” And he pulled the girl away with him.

“It’s okay. I’m sure it was an accident.” The girl meekly said to Betty as she was dragged away.

 

Betty was fuming by the time she reached her next class. She couldn’t concentrate. Before she entered, she spotted Reggie and pulled him aside and glared at him. 

He simply laughed. “Ohhh Cooper!” he said between guffaws. “You surprise me every time! I never thought you would actually pull something like that!”

“Oh yeah?! What was up with that whole lecture there?!”

“What? That? You know I had to. I’m sweet old Reggie Cooper,” he batted his eyelashes.

“You know I only did that because of the bet! You didn’t have to get all up in my face for that!” 

“But Bets I never _asked_ you to spray water on her,” he smiled, raising his hands in mock surrender. “And besides, you always lecture me when I pull that kind of stuff. I only did what I thought you would do.” He then put his hands on her shoulder.

She sighed in resignation. Whatever the reason, she had still done something mean and she would have to live with the consequences. Yet, she still glared at Reggie.

“Was it overkill?” He asked and she pouted.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” he pulled her into a hug. “There there,” he said as he patted her hair.

Betty was taken by surprise. She hadn’t expected that. For a moment, she let him do it. It felt nice. But then a cough from the sidelines interrupted them.

Professor Flutesnoot cleared his throat and Betty violently pushed away from Reggie. “G-good afternoon, sir!” she burst out. 

“We’d better be getting into class,” he said, though there was some sort of amusement in his face.

Betty was just struck with a thought, and before they could enter, she asked “Oh sir, did you keep Adam Chisholm with you throughout lunch for an errand?” 

Reggie gulped, as he turned to Professor Flutesnoot.

He looked perplexed. “I didn’t ask Chisholm to run any errands today.” he said blankly.

Betty went quiet for a while, but then recovered upon receiving a jab to the side from Reggie. “Oh, my mistake, sir. Um, let’s… let’s get to class, shall we?”

Reggie stared at Betty every few minutes during class. She tried her best to appear calm but she seemed distracted. He wondered if he should tell her what he saw.

 

After all their classes for the day had ended, Betty was on her way to the entrance to meet Reggie. She wondered what exactly they were meeting up for. She hadn’t really paid much attention when he was speaking earlier. Before she went to their meeting spot, she made a quick pit stop to the washroom. She checked her hair and reapplied her perfume and lip gloss. She checked herself in the mirror a few more times before finally exiting and making her way there.

Although Adam Chisholm had disappeared from her mind soon after Flutesnoot's class, she was reminded of his apparent lie when she ran into him again. Well, he might have accidentally said what he did. There was no need to doubt him. 

“Hey, Bets!” Adam rushed over soon as he saw her. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t make it for lunch!”

“It’s alright,” she smiled. “What kept you?” 

“Oh you know, Mr. Flutesnoot and his errand. It ended up taking a longer time than I thought. Hahaha, but I couldn’t let down a teacher!”

Betty didn’t say anything; she simply gave a polite smile.

“So, you wanna go catch a movie now? No chores from any teachers now!” 

Betty studied his face and then sighed. “Sorry, I already have plans with Reggie. Maybe next time.” And with that she walked ahead of him. 

Reggie was waiting at the entrance, the same place as the other day. She could see him glance at his wristwatch every few seconds.

“Am I late?” She asked as she caught up to him.

“Not by much,” he said and when he noticed Adam a few steps behind Betty, he slid his hand into hers. “Let’s get going then.” he said with a backwards glance and sneer at Adam who looked surprised.

They chatted about this and that but when they settled into a booth at Pop Tate’s Reggie brought up Adam. He finally told her what he saw and she went quiet for a short time. He decided that now that he finally told her what he needed to, it’d be better to change the topic.

“So, I guess you’re the winner for today.” He said, sipping his drink.

“Huh?”

“Yeah, you beat me…” he did some calculations inside his head, “75 to 60.” He had a matter-of-fact look on his face and Betty started laughing.

“What?”

“Nothing,” she said. “You’re getting very into it aren’t you?”

“In life, you gotta take things seriously, Cooper.” He tutted.

“So this means this isn’t over yet?” She sighed.

“Not by a long shot!” He bumped his fist on the table. “And I know I might’ve been the loser for the day, but Cooper your performance wasn’t great you know? I feel like you have the potential but…” he sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, “You just aren’t using it right!”

Betty laughed. “It feels like the drama club all over again.”

Reggie smiled too, “We can become professional actors at this rate.”

“Well,” Betty said between sips of her milkshake, “I didn’t feel your _Betty_ either, you know? You have to up your game.”

The corners of Reggie’s lips went up in that trademark devil smile of his. “Sure, Cooper.” His smile widened. “I’ll be the nicest goody two shoes on the block starting tomorrow.”

It sounded very unconvincing with that smile of his, but she internally thought about how she liked it better than his fake-angel smile.

It was a bit late by the time he dropped her home. No part of the bet stated that they had to spend more time with each other. Yet, they hung out way into the night, even after they were done discussing the deal for the next day. Neither of them called it a date, but they went for a movie and a short walk at a nearby park.

When Betty went home, she stayed up thinking about the day, and the whole deal with their bet. It was a mess, but they had been spending more time over it. She wondered what she would be doing for the next day when she was hit with a flash of inspiration.

 

\--------

 

Reggie stood leaned against the school entrance for around 10 minutes. Betty texted him that her sister would drop her to school the next day and that she’d catch up with him at the entrance. When Betty finally arrived his jaw dropped. He could almost swear he saw her walk in slow motion like in the movies.

When she finally walked over to him and took off her shades, he scowled at her. “What is this?” he asked gesturing up and down her form. He looked at her again, from top to bottom: **black**!

Black jacket, black top, black mini-skirt, black boots, black eyeliner and eyeshadow. A choker with spikes on it from an old halloween party that she never thought she would wear again, with matching spiked bracelets. The only non-black makeup was her red lipstick because she had none in black and her sister’s suggestion of using eyeliner on her lips gave her the creeps. Her hair which was always up in a ponytail was brushed down for once.

“How is this me?” Reggie barked. “The last time I wore a leather jacket was winter last year! The deal was to be **me!** Not **goth**!”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re one to talk,” she pointed at his face, “I see you had the same idea I did.”

He took off the fake pair of glasses he was wearing. “Whatever do you mean?” He was suddenly all smiles.

“I mean this!” She gestured to his clothes. He was wearing overalls over a short-sleeved checkered shirt with a bow tie. As a cherry on top, he slicked his hair to the side. “Who asked you to dress up like a nerd? How is this _me_?!”

Reggie gasped theatrically. “How dare you insinuate that this is how a _nerd_ dresses! I call this my ‘formal’ look! Are you stereotyping me because of my glasses?”

“You don’t even have bad eyesight, poser!” She thumped her index finger against his chest and he smiled.

“And what about you? Isn’t it a couple degrees too hot to wear a leather jacket? I don’t remember _that_ being a part of the bet!”

“I decided to add my own little spice to my character,” she said, looking at him through half-lidded eyes.

“So did I,” he retorted coolly.

“Woww, halloween came early this year.” Veronica interrupted their little fight. She studied them with a puzzled expression. “Are you two having a little lover’s spat?”

“What’s happening here?” asked a certain redhead as he joined them.

Reggie and Betty glanced at each other. They’d have to postpone their argument.

“Hey babe,” Betty threw Archie a smug smile. “Aren’t you looking great today,” she drawled.

Archie and Veronica were caught off guard.

“Um, I did cut my hair and this… this is a new shirt.” Archie sounded flustered and then he seemed to remember something. “Oh Bets, I heard you had a… uh… a ‘moment’ with Adam the other day? It’s all everyone was talking about. What was up with that?” Archie sounded slightly irritated.

“Oh that?” Betty’s smug expression never faded. “That’s yesterday’s news darling,” and leaning closer to Archie she flashed him a wide devilish smile, “We could go for a movie today, just... the two of us.”

Ronnie was steaming like a teapot and she finally blew up. “NO WAY! WHAT IS UP WITH YOU, BETTY?!”

Betty looked disinterestedly at her. “Bug off, Princess Big Bucks. We’re making plans.”

Veronica looked bewildered. “No! Archie and I are going to the movies today, aren’t we Archiekins?”

Archie was petrified. He tried to look for the right words to say. “Uh, umm, er, well that is…” And then he caught Betty staring at something behind him.

He turned to see Adam walking in through the entrance.

“Well, if Archie can’t make it…” Betty started.

“Oh. No.” Archie said before she could finish. “Sorry, Ron. Betty asked first so I guess I have to go with Betty.” He shrunk as he said the last few words because Veronica seemed like she was going to go off like a volcano on them. However, instead of saying anything, she just stormed away with Reggie in tow.

Betty’s heart was beating a mile a minute the entire time. But she couldn’t believe what had just happened. Archie might have agreed to go with her because of Adam but she couldn’t believe Ronnie didn’t pull any tricks to get him back. This worked out better than expected. “So I’ll see you after school, doll,” she said and strutted away.

Reggie joined her near the lockers. “ _Princess Big Bucks_ is **mad**!” He declared.

“So?” Betty rolled her eyes at him.

Reggie chuckled. “That’s my girl!” He patted her head.

“Now I get to go to dinner with Ron, so I guess it’s a win-win.” He said. “But I gotta get rid of the outfit apparently.”

Betty frowned. “So you’re playing second fiddle, huh? Welcome to Betty’s world!” she said in mock excitement.

“It’s Reggie’s world too, honey,” and his expression darkened for a split second before his face lit up again. “So, what movie are you guys watching?”

“I don’t know…” Betty’s voice trailed off. She suddenly didn’t feel like going for that date.

“What’s wrong, Cooper?” He smacked a palm against her back suddenly and she jolted upright. “It was your victory, fair and square!”

She punched him on the arm. “He only asked me cause he thought I would go with Adam otherwise.”

“You know you never cared about the _ifs_ and _buts_  before.” Reggie looked at her earnestly.

She smiled. “Yeah, but no one takes Betty Mantle for granted!” There was a sudden fire in her eyes. “Wanna go for a night out in town?”

“What about your movie date?”

“What about it?” She asked. There was an uncharacteristic devilish smile on her face and he felt goosebumps. “Well, aren’t you something, my little heartbreaker!” He ruffled her hair. “Sure, count me in!”

  
Reggie couldn’t stop thinking about her. Bad Betty was bad for his heart. He was so preoccupied daydreaming about their date that it didn’t strike him until lunch that he had made plans with Veronica. Then he felt panic rise. Cancelling plans with Ronnie would have _severe_ repercussions. And then he realized that the thought of cancelling plans with Ronnie came before the idea of telling Betty that he couldn’t make it. That was insane.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello people, it is I, back yet again!
> 
> I know I have that other [Beggie fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1433611/chapters/3014551) that I didn't really complete yet. I had a lot of crazy ideas for it and I didn't have the time or energy to go through with them hehe  
> So, I have officially graduated from university (well my last exam was in December and my grades are out and I passed everything) so I have some free time on my hands.  
> This fic was actually in my google drive for a really long time! Since I was midway posting the other one! I remember telling someone in the comments of that one that I would be posting this but I never got around to it.  
> Well, I haven't finalized how this one is going to go but I'm posting it now before I put it off again for a billion years! And I hope posting it will give me the motivation to continue writing!
> 
> And as always, please tell me what you think- praises, critiques, anything! I love interacting!


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